Nunavut's newest cabinet minister pledges more jobs

MLAs in Nunavut have chosen Nanulik MLA Patterk Netser to replace former cabinet minister Peter Kilabuk, who resigned last month.

Netser, whose riding includes Chesterfield Inlet and Coral Harbour, was selected by a majority of his fellow MLAs during the Nunavut Leadership Forum Monday morning.

Netser faced off for the position against the MLA for Uqqummiut, James Arreak.

Under Nunavut's consensus-style government, all MLAs select who will sit in cabinet. The premier then assigns portfolios.

The member for Nanulik said he was surprised and relieved to win the nomination.

Netser spoke of the need for more jobs for single people and families in Nunavut, and said he wants to promote sport hunts for everything from polar bears to wolverines as a means of economic development.

But Netser says he mainly wanted in cabinet to represent the non-decentralized communities, those communities not receiving territorial government jobs under Nunavut's decentralization scheme.

"We don't have the benefits that the decentralized communities have and any major cutbacks, who suffers the most? It's the non-decentralized communities," he says. "We want to be part of the growing process of Nunavut."

MLAs cast secret ballots to vote for their choice for cabinet, with deputy premier Levinia Brown casting two: one for her and one for Premier Paul Okalik, who was absent from the house. The results of the voting are not released and the ballots have been destroyed.

Netser will sit as a cabinet minister without portfolio until the end of the current sitting.

Netser was elected as MLA in the 2003 by-election to replace James Arvaluk, a former cabinet minister who had to resign after being convicted of assault. Netser was unemployed as a mechanic at that time. He went on to win the seat again in the general election of 2004.